Introduction
When an insurance company carried out an internal systems review nine years ago, the finance team identified the need to upgrade their current finance system with a fully integrated finance and accounting solution that would not only meet their overall aims & objectives, but also provide the scalability to grow with the business in years to come. The solution chosen: Microsoft Dynamics GP.
Background
An international general insurance and reinsurance group specialising in commercial insurance. This insurance comapny writes a diverse portfolio of insurance and reinsurance, offering worldwide protection. The scope is wide ranging: from small and medium sized traders to the largest multinational corporations. Its distribution model is centred on brokers and intermediaries.
The challenges they faced
Before Microsoft Dynamics GP was implemented, this insurance company was using an older system for their financial accounting which needed updating to newer technology.
An account manager at this insurance company comments “when we looked at Finance and Accounting Software, we wanted a fully integrated system that would meet our global objectives and provide scalability, ensuring that we wouldn’t outgrow the system within a few years”.
The new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution therefore had to meet the following criteria:
- Integration with other technologies - This insurance company used other Microsoft technologies and systems so the integration and compatibility was essential.
- Intuitive User Interface – The finance staff are familiar with Microsoft products and required a system that was hassle free and simple to use.
- Multilocation and Currency – The insuranc company needed a system that could work with several locations and different currencies.
- Flexible Functionality – Fulfilling the need to quickly export and analyse data at a glance.
The solution implemented
After implementing the Microsoft Dynamics GP solution nine years ago, with a different Microsoft Partner, they decided to carry out a Microsoft Partner review.
Advantage Business Systems were chosen as this insurance company's new partner. The client added “We decided to choose Advantage due to their experience in the financial services sector and recognised that we needed them to move forward. Advantage provides value and excellent Microsoft Dynamics Support to our business”.
The benefits
Since changing Microsoft Partners five years ago, this insurance client has implemented several solutions – one of which was an Expense Management Solution (expense@work).
They further added comments, “We were looking for an expense solution that would integrate with Dynamics GP and have the same intuitive user interface that everyone can easily use. We looked at other systems but found them far too complicated and complex for our needs”.
The expense@work system was implemented three years ago and underwent extensive testing internally before it was rolled out to employees. It was an extremely smooth implementation and quickly adopted by all staff.
Conclusion
To date, Microsoft Dynamics GP has reduced the need for extensive training with its intuitive user interface; has provided better financial visibility and control helping the insurance company to make better & more informed strategic decisions.
The expense@work solution has also provided significant cost savings in the three years it has been implemented, with a 50% reduction in the manual data inputting of expenses and minimal training required. The expense@work system has now been implemented throughout the insurance client.
